Start-up NeuroSonix Ltd. today announced that it had completed the raising of $1.4 million in its first financing round. NeuroSonix, a medical devices company, was founded in 2000 by CEO Dr. Nathan Sela at the Incentive Technological Incubator in Ariel. The company is developing non-invasive technology for the protecting the brain from embolisms during open-heart surgery and other cardiologic procedures and angiographies. The company estimates the potential market for its first product, designed for open-heart surgery, at $1 billion a year. 1.5 million open-heart surgeries are carried out in the Western world every year.

Sela said today, "The prevalence of brain damage from open-heart surgery is very high and unacceptable, especially for such a frequent procedure. An average of 3% of patients suffer from strokes, and many more suffer from some degree of cognitive impairment. The economic cost of these problems is cautiously estimated at $2.5-4 billion a year in the US alone."

NeuroSonix has six employees, It successfully completed animal trials last year, and will begin clinical trials on humans in Europe this summer.

Ofer Brothers Hi-Tech, Peregrine Ventures, and Yozma led the financing round. Other US and Israeli funds also participating, including TopNotch Capital, an Israeli investment bank that specializes in the life sciences, and which managed the financing round.